Top Stories - Topics from July, 2016

Drought is the main topic at the breakfast tables at Gina Belle’s Restaurant in Danielsville these days as it’s the gathering place for a number of local farmers before they begin their day.

Keith Lord said it’s hard not to think about how dry it is as they begin each new day of work.

“We’re really beginning to hurt,” Lord said standing in one of his dried up soybean fields last week.

He said there are basically two things against he and other farmers in the area this year – lack of rainfall and the deer population.

“The deer are hungry, the foliage is not there in the woods for them so they’re out in the fields looking for food,” he said. And they’re finding it – somewhat – in Lord’s soybean fields, the ones that have managed to get a few tender shoots out of the ground.

“Come along here about sunset and you’ll see 10, 15 deer grazing,” he said about a field he leases on Friendship Church Road in the northern part of the county. “They eat the green tender tips off the top of the plants and leave the tougher stalks.”

He said even the infamous “pigweed” plant is having a hard time growing this year, and that’s something. [Full Story »]

When Cindy Edins’s dog Ally got out of her fenced yard in Madison County on Memorial Day weekend and was hit by a car, Edins was devastated.

And it wasn’t only because Ally is a beloved pet, she is also Edins’ partner in providing therapy to troubled and mentally ill children and adults through her work with the EPIC (Early Psychosis Intervention Collaborative) program at Advantage Behavioral Health Services in Athens.

Ally ended up losing a front leg and very nearly her life, but she pulled through and these days is slowly recuperating and getting back to seeing “her” patients with Edins, usually at the patient’s home.

“We are a community-based program, so we generally go where they are,” Edins said. As Edins companion on these visits, it’s Ally’s job to “assess” the patient in her own way and then provide her brand of help. Patients are screened to see if they like dogs and if so, if they’d like to meet Ally.

“Ally has an amazing sense of empathy with people,” Edins said of these visits. [Full Story »]

Madison County voters will hit the polls Tuesday for three local Republican runoff elections.

Lee Allen and Wayne Douglas are vying for the Board of Commissioners District 1 seat. John Scarborough and Stanley Thomas are facing off for the chance to face Democrat Cedric Fortson in the November general election for the county commission chairman’s seat. And incumbent Kip Thomas is being challenged by Michael Moore for the sheriff’s seat.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Madison County voting precincts. Early voting will also be held through the end of the business day Friday at the Madison County Board of Registration and Elections Office in the county government complex. [Full Story »]

Madison County commissioners unanimously shot down plans for a subdivision on Diamond Hill Colbert Road Monday, drawing applause from a room of nearby residents fiercely opposing the development.

The proposed subdivision by Jason Pridgen included 20 homes on 18.46 acres. The minimum lot size for the lots was .75 acres and the homes would cost an estimated $115,000 and be a minimum of 1,550 square feet. Pridgen sought a rezoning of the property from A-2 to R-1. The property has been used in recent years as a hay pasture.

Attorney Victor Johnson spoke on behalf of Pridgen, saying that the county needs affordable housing and the subdivision would be a quality development and “not a trailer park.”

“This is not a mobile home park or a manufactured-home subdivision,” said Johnson. “…This will be modest, affordable housing for people in the average income range in Madison County.”

Johnson said the plan falls into the “high-density” zone on the county’s land use map, which calls for the densest residential growth in a half-mile radius of the county’s cities. Johnson filed a constitutional challenge to the county zoning ordinance Monday, a preliminary move toward possible legal action to get the property rezoned.

Johnson was the lone person to speak in favor of the proposed development Monday, but numerous people approached the podium to plead with commissioners to turn down the proposal. They said the low-budget homes would attract a criminal element to the community and likely be rental property before long. They said the development would lower their property values. Opponents said septic tanks in the development would not be contained to the property and would cause environmental problems. They said water quality in the area is already bad and that the addition of 20 residences would make it worse, while also putting water pressure burdens on fire services. They said the development would strain the school system. [Full Story »]

Madison County commissioners agreed last week not to get into the rental business.

The group recently received a request from a business seeking to rent the old Women, Infants and Children Food and Nutrition Service (WIC) building in the Lakeview Business Center off Rock Quarry Road by the district attorney’s office and Fine Finish.

County commissioners have made it clear that they intend to move the county elections office to that building at the end of the year. But the board entertained the idea of having a private business use county property. This could generate some revenue for the county.
But there are complications to such a plan.

County attorney Mike Pruett said the commissioners must establish what types of businesses couldn’t rent county buildings.

“If you open it up to profit-making companies, you must consider which ones are not appropriate for government property,” said Pruett.

The attorney noted that the county would have to establish a fair-market value for any property it rents. Failure to meet the market value could constitute an unfair gratuity, he said.

Commission chairman Anthony Dove said he heard from constituents in the rental business who were concerned that they would have to compete with the county government for renters. [Full Story »]

First Madison Bank and Trust on Hwy. 72 in Colbert was robbed Monday at approximately 1 p.m. by a black woman who approached a teller with a note, saying she was armed.

No weapon was observed in the incident, according to Lt. Jimmy Patton of the Madison County Sheriff’s Office. The woman fled the bank with an undisclosed sum of cash and got into the passenger side of a white, early-to-mid 2000 model SUV (possibly Jeep Grand Cherokee) with dark, tinted windows on Second Avenue.
The suspect was described as a thin black female, 5’7” to 5’9”, with long hair pulled back. She was last seen wearing a long white T-shirt and black leggings. But Patton said her clothes were discovered on the street. The lieutenant said there are no suspects at this time and it’s unclear how many accomplices were involved, though someone was driving the getaway vehicle.

Anyone with information on the robber’s whereabouts is encouraged to call 9-1-1 and not to approach the suspect.

Madison County commissioners are giving local law enforcement another tool in dealing with noise complaints.

The group approved a measure Monday to “prohibit harassing noise in the unincorporated areas of Madison County.” This will be in effect in tandem with the current county noise ordinance, which restricts loud noises at night. The “noise harassment ordinance” can be applied at any time of day or night.

The commissioners say they’re concerned with establishing a balance. They don’t want normal activities interrupted by neighbors with a grudge, but they don’t want someone to be able to make loud noises simply to harass someone living nearby.

The new ordinance will give law officers the authority to issue a citation if they deem that a noise is being made simply to annoy a neighbor.

“A birthday party is not intended to harass,” said BOC chairman Anthony Dove.

But commissioner Stanley Thomas said someone revving up a chainsaw and not cutting anything for hours at a time at the end of a driveway. Well, that would be harassment.

Commissioner Theresa Bettis recently proposed that the board do something to address daytime noise, noting that note everyone works regular shifts. Some people sleep during the day.

County attorney Mike Pruett presented the board with the ordinance at a July 7 meeting.[Full Story »]

Madison County’s football and soccer field is going the way of the New England Patriots, the Ohio State Buckeyes and FIFA soccer. It’s getting synthetic turf.

School leaders say it will actually be cheaper over the long haul to pay for the always-green turf than to maintain grass at Raider Field. The new turf will be installed in the winter between the football and soccer seasons. This means no more re-sodding, fertilizer treatments, watering, grass cutting, paint costs and maintenance of mowers for the field.

“This will also make the field far more accessible,” said superintendent Allen McCannon, noting that many more activities can take place on a synthetic field, since grass maintenance won’t be an issue.

The new synthetic field will be “cool turf,” which keeps the playing surface 30 degrees cooler in hot weather than normal. The turf won’t be in place for this football season but will be installed between football and soccer seasons.

The turf change is one small part of a big energy efficiency plan overseen by ABM. The Madison County Board of Education has held energy contracts with ABM for years and the group approved a fourth contract with the company last week, which will open the door for a wide range of energy efficiency measures, such as LED lighting at all schools and air quality and climate-control measures.[Full Story »]

For the first time in nearly a decade, Madison County school system employees will get a three-percent salary increase.

The system hasn’t awarded an across-the-board pay increase since the 2007-2008 fiscal year.

The state government has not funded schools at its own established formula in 13 years, with Madison County falling $30 million short in state funding during that time. This shortfall is recognized as “austerity cuts.” This year, Gov. Nathan Deal reduced the “austerity cuts.” That means Madison County is getting a $1.2 million increase over last year in state funding.

“We’ve done that,” she said. “We’ve given all of our employees a three-percent raise across the board on everything. Anything you make in Madison County (schools) is increasing by three percent on your first paycheck of this school year.”

Knight and superintendent Allen McCannon said system employees deserved the pay increase after years without one.

“I think everybody would agree the employees deserve it,” said Knight. “It’s been a long time since they’ve gotten a raise. And remember we had several years with amended calendar days due to the austerity cuts, so they actually made less than what they made in 2008 in those years. So this is the first time they’re starting to see the economy come back up and benefit them salary-wise.”[Full Story »]